The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-09-04
DIR. HAMMOND'S WARNING
The Women of the United States Are
Pre-Eminent in Avoiding Maternity.
The Maternal Instinct Dying Out Before Ed
ucation, Refinement and Selfishness -
Grounds Upon Which the Charge Is Based.

avoid maternity more than do the women
of other countries2
1t might he said with reference to this cues
ton that it is by no means certain that Ameri-
women are to a greater extent than the
women Of other countries disposed to shun an
obligation that they owe to the human species
The sense of duty in this respect is gradually
becoming less imperative with the women of all
civilized countries. Very few consider it duty
at all that they should undergo suffering and
discomfort in order that the state may have its
population increased Their chief regard is for
themselves and their own homes and they care
little nothing for the body polite. The ma
ternal instinct is dying out before education and
refinement and is already in great part succeed
cd by a factor which is nothing more than
act of the ntellect by which the advantages and
Disadvantages of maternity are fully considered,
and by which determination, affirmative or
negative, is arrived st in accordance with the
circumstances governing each particular case.
Fifty years ago probably not one young mar
ried couple in a thousand thought of this subject
with a view to the employment of any prevent
i've measures. Now it is in many cases calmly
discussed either before after marriage. espe-
cially when the parties in position of life
above that of the very lowest.
The indispostion to assume the cares and re-
sponsibilties of motherhood exist to greater
or less extent throughout the whole civilized
world. But am very confident from my own
personal experience, as we'll as from the obser-
vation of many physicians and intelligent lay
men with whom l have conferred, that Ameri-
can women pre- eminent among those of all
civilized nations in their anxiety to escape the
obligations that the bearing and rearing of
children impose. Besides, it is small point
In hat ia ptad
with singular unanmity by intelligent people
in all classes of the community.
1t is true that the women of France not
far behind in this rather ignoble race and that
English women rapidly gaining a prominent
place in it, but for the present at least Ameri-
women lead. There many reasons for
this pre-eminence 1t will be sufficient perhaps.
in the present connection if l refer only to three
which appear to me to be of chief i'm por lance.
In the first place, many American women
so educated as to acquire the belief that person
al display. luxury, and what they call ''excite-
ment," the principal considerations by which
they to be actuated in their pursuit of hap
piness 1t is only necessary them, of all
ages, they frequent the various resorts to
which they flock in the summer and to observe
their dress and manners in order to perceive
how feeble and erroneous is their idea of the
place of women the world. In what other
civilized countries are young girls al
lowed to walk either during the day
or till late at night, if it so
pleases them. with men whose acquaintance
they have just made and of whose antecedents
they know positively nothing2
1t is said that American women, by being al
owed such freedom. acquire the ability to
take care Of themselves; but it is just this sense
Of DO yer when they attain it which is to great
extent one of the circumstances which influence
them in their antagonism to maternity. They
that with the of children their
hands thsir liberties would be curtailed and that
their independence would in a great measure
vanish.
But to return to the summer resorts, which
must be held 10 be largely responsible for the
changes which. within the last fifty years, have
taken place in the women of America. Here
from the child of less than a dozen years up to
the of maturity, bedecked in silks and
eatins of gorgeous hues, and often blazing with
diamonds and other precious stones. they
semble night after night in the pail room TO
gage in promiscuous dancing with boys and men
they have never met before. They are sharp
enough to perceive that the with
children who may be in the house cannot partic-
pate in the payeties, and that they receive little
attention. The lesson is that they
unlearn. They f1irt with one man after another,
employing wiles which excite the astonishment
looking after their babies sitting in corners
feeling that summons to attend of them
may at any moment come. The bellies know
that only rich men could provide them with the
servants requisite to attend to the wants of
children. but they also know that rich men
few and far between.
Through these influences and many others
that might be men tioned. an undue love for the
frivoities of life ia engendered. and when marri-
age comes the bride knows that with pregnancy
and child birth, and the after of children,
QIddV wOulu he
would sink into the humdrum existence she
both hates and fears.
After all. the fault in such cases rests primari-
~ with the parents. They are, perhaps, the
architects Of their fortunes arriving at
competence only after severe struggles and the
endurance OF many hardshps. Proud of their
daughters so-caled accompl ishments. they graf
ify themselves by showing her off arrayed with
a degree of splendor far beyond what her mother
hao ever dreamed OF in her most hilarious slum-
bers. Thew see her admired by men of a higher
social position than the they had occupied in
their young days and they feel fully compensated
for the poverty and all attendant evils of their
own married life with their six chill
dren when they witness the social triumphs Of
their girl ''Ah" ! heard mother say one night
at fashionable watering place where her two
daughters, neither of them fifteen years old,
magnificentiy attred and with solitaire dia-
monds sparkling in their ears, rushing
through a round dance with partners to whom
another girl of their age had just introduced
them-"Ah! if it had not been for my children
mi ght have been just as fine n belle as either of
those girls" Doubtless she had said the same
thing to them a hundred times. Henceit comes
that the girls" taught by precept and expert
ence, find that their happiness consists in fol-
lowing other lines IN life than those which lead
TO maternity.
Then. again, Americans are prone to marry
before they have acquired sufficient means to
maintain themselves in the condition Of comfort
TO which they have been accustomed while de-
pehoent upon their parents. It follows, there
iore. tnat Whatever tends to increase their
penses Is a hindrance to them Maternity is a
very influential factor in this direction. and
hence 1t Is not desirable. People in this coun-
Try are hot-uniess they are exceedingly well
placed in life-disposed to be content with the
position they occupy. They are anxious to bet
ter themselves, and they know that children
en- aiing as they do care and making serious in
roads into limited incomes, are impediments 10
their progress larger establishment is re-
CURED and the household expenses must be
greatly increased by one two children in tba
family Ibe saving of money is rendared dif. |